AHMEDABAD: It was raining MoUs for the pharmaceutical and medical devices sector at VGGS on Thursday. The seminar on ‘Opportunities and Challenges in Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Manufacturing’, witnessed the signing of 249 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) worth Rs 14,700 crore, the highest seen at VGGS so far. The last edition of VGGS had seen 201 MoUs worth Rs 5,000 crore in the pharma sector.

The seminar was attended by Mansukh Mandaviya, Union minister of state for chemicals and fertilizers and Shankar Chaudhary, MoS health and family welfare, along with senior officials of the FDCA, industrialists and industry representatives.

Pankaj Patel, CMD, Zydus Cadila, and president of FICCI, represented the industry and underlined the need for innovation and nurturing of the next generation. He credited VGGS for roping in countries like Saudi Arabia, which had almost no presence in the Indian pharma industry.

Patel presented the three major demands of the industry. “The government should have a stable policy regime so companies can plan ahead. There should be one regulator for everything - it cannot be governed by many industries and many regulators and focus should be on global quality and regulation practices,” Patel said in his speech.

He identified nanotechnology and artificial intelligence as emerging areas for the industry and stressed on the need to strengthen medical devices manufacturing as an industry.

Mandaviya and Chaudhary promised to look into the industry’s demands. Mandaviya said that the government is already creating a framework on the basis of industry inputs. Three pharmaceutical parks on themes of bulk drugs, pharmaceuticals and medical devices would be a boon for the industry in Gujarat he said. He added that the country’s first medical devices testing lab is being set up in Vadodara.

Pankaj Kumar, principal secretary (medical services and education), state government, said that due to a mix of affordable treatment, growing infrastructure and strong pharmaceutical sector, India has emerged as a favoured medical tourism destination. “Gujarat has 33% of India’s national turnover, 28% share in pharma exports and it produces 40% of machinery for pharmaceutical industry. It also represents half of the medical devices manufacturing market,” he said.

Only in India the healthcare financing is very small when compared to the financing by the other forces rather than the patient himself or herself paying out of pocket. Having 70-75% of the expenses as out-of-pocket, in my opinion, is not a right approach to managing healthcare in a country where the patients tend to sub-optimally purchase healthcare if he/she has to pay out-of-pocket.